Aphie's quest into Futures

(Aphie hasn't started trading yet, and we already have 4 pages !
... here is my contribution...

Break a leg, Aphie!
Don't jump off the fence on the wrong side at the wrong moment!



Cheers!!

 

it's your money, trade when and ifyou are ready.

edit: this should be a quieter thread, I have to unsubscibe from Quah threat to avoid over-flow the mail box.

 

Good luck aphie!

Have you identified whether your method does better in a trending or trading environment?

And there is some validity to waiting until your method is losing to start trading it real time.

I hope you do great right out of the chute.

 

inandlong,

Thanks! It looks like my system does better in a trending market, but there is a variable in my approach that, if the market starts ranging, I'll either change a component in the system or just get out of trading for that time-period.

I am currently coding the parts of my autotrader that will enter orders for me automatically. I don't know about other traders, but when I trade on a simulated account, I sometimes screw up the order entry process. I've even had limit orders getting filled that I had long since forgotten about.

I figured I'd better clean up those bad habits before I trade with real $$$.

Emotionally, my biggest problem is that of "instant validation." If I put in an order, I don't want to wait, I want the market to surge and validate my decision. Patience is something that is very hard for me to accept -- but it is crucial that I do so.

Ps: A lot of beginning traders here on ET (through their journals) appear to have instant profits for some reason and then fall into some sort of "equity drawdown blackhole."

I'm not sure how I'm going to deal with all these emotional variables, but as the day grows closer, I see this huge rift between carelessly trading imaginary money and cautiously trading real money.

I am going to print a sign and put it next to my monitor that says, "RULE #1: DO NOT FREAK OUT."

 

Aphie,

Not only are you diving off the nine foot board, but you are doing it with 12,000 specators watching!

When I started trading futures, I made 26% in my first 9 days off about 40 trades. I then managed to lose about 60% in three days. A very humbling experience.

I nearly wiped out three times before I became consistant.

You might want to test your autotrader during lunch when there is little movement, if it stuffs up and you have to ring IB, there won't be anyone on the lines

Runningbear

 

You'd think that trading journals would contain trades?

"I am about to trade. I look at the trading computer. I contemplate the trading computer. [yada yada]"

[six months later...]

"This is my 30th journal about my journey in making my first trade...."

 

good one .. might better make that rule #2 though.. rule #1 for this guy needs to be "Less talk, More trading".

-qwik

 

Two weeks ago Aphie bought a call option on ORCL.........so who sez he aint a REAL trader??

 

He prolly banked on that one and doesn't need to trade anymore